


Trouble, trouble, trouble

by fish_wifey



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 12:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4667300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fish_wifey/pseuds/fish_wifey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following an example, The Nekoma first years decide to do something special to bond over, in hopes to become a stronger group of first years. Things go wrong and they end up playing a game of hide and seek with their angry senpai.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trouble, trouble, trouble

**Author's Note:**

> All it took was two Nekoma 1st years fanart and a tweet from Winny. I don't need much inspiration ovó Hope you like it, sweety! I had a lot of fun getting these three into trouble and writing these very different characters .v.
> 
> I wanted a gen fic for a change but... if people are open for InuShiba, I'd love to give it a try within this story's universe! (also a good reason to write more Fukunaga because omg, I love him so much).

Sou can’t quite remember the last time he’d been in this big a trouble. There had been a minor incident on a Friday morning in junior high, when he and his friends had fallen into the pool. On the first day at Nekoma, he and Yuuki had been sent to the principal’s office for playing around during assembly (they’d been best friends ever since; getting scolded together and do extra homework creates a bond, on top of both loving volleyball). Teachers and school stuff seems rather harmless, however, in the light of hiding from your captain and ace. 

Looking at the hanging head protectors of the Kendou club, Sou tried to absorb their club room’s brave energy. Maybe he should try steal one of the bamboo swords, in order to defend himself. Then again, someone like Yamamoto might take a hit to the head and be untouched, and he’d never would be able to wield a weapon against captain Kuroo. Thinking about it, the first years had done quite some damage to their fearsome upperclassmen, even though it only had been some harmless water. And a bucket. And some glitter.

It hadn’t been meant for them, anyway. Just a tiny error in their timing and getting into the wrong place.

When the door opens, Sou holds his breath, trying to hide himself further in the coat rack. The club members’ rack had their uniforms lined all neatly, and Sou had pushed the shoes beneath away to sit. For once in his life, he disliked being so tall, as his legs didn’t quite fit in the hiding place. 

One pair of trousers was pushed out of his line of sight, and his vice captain flashes him a smile. “Yo, Inuoka.” 

“H-hello, Kai-senpai.” Swallowing his fear, Sou tries to smile back, even though it’s shaky. He ducks his head even more for a single bow to the upperclassman. Kai squats in front of him, eyeing the club room’s otherwise empty space. His calm presence and relaxed face do not quite catch on with Sou. More than once he had heard Kuroo say that he wouldn’t want Kai as his enemy.

“Did you know I belonged to the Kendou club during junior high?” The upperclassman starts, reminiscing to a time when Sou hadn’t known him. Shaking his head in a slow and unthreatening manner, Sou urges his senpai on to talk. “Training was gruesome. Wearing armor, jumping up and down, repeating the same exercise at least 50 times a week. Imagine playing volleyball with this kind of armour all around you. Quite heavy, don’t you think?”

“As expected of Kai-san,” he whispers in awe. Nodding when his senpai side-eyes him, Sou tenses his shoulders. He hears voices outside the room, but Kai doesn’t seem affected by the noise. He stands, holding the rack’s clothing apart to still look at Sou. A cold shiver runs down Sou’s spine, and he feels bathed in sweat. He now knows what Kuroo has been referring to, all this time. There’s something about Kai you cannot pinpoint or understand just by looking at him.

“They allow me to practice here once in a while, on my own. Did you know they have a window here, behind the spare uniforms?” Giving Sou space to move, Kai helps him up, then points to the hidden window. Sou looks at his only way out of this misery. Kai’s smile doesn’t falter, and when the rowdy noises come closer to the club room’s door, he turns to them. 

“I’ll place the uniform back once you’re out.” He says to Sou, who heaves the heavy armour away from his exit. The club room isn’t on the ground floor, but there’s a convenient ladder. It was too conveniently placed to be there by mistake or circumstance. Looking back to Kai, Sou is really glad none of the mishap at the principal's office happened to Kai. Although having water and glitter splashed and scattered all over him wouldn’t have been too bad on Kai, plus he might not have taken it too badly.

“And Inuoka-kun?” Hand on the door, Kai looks over his shoulder, still smiling. “Sunday, 8 a.m. sharp. I’ll text you the details of where the Kendou dōjō is. Don’t be late.”

A single nod, not so shaky as before, and Sou swings himself out of the window and into safety.

*~*~*

Yuuki jumps out of his skin when his phone buzzes. His fingers tremble, and he lets the phone drop to the grass at least twice, trying to read Sou’s message. The location of at least one of their hunters is nowhere near him, and he heaves a sigh of relief. He mails Sou back rapidly, letting him know where he is. As he does so, he pays no attention to where he’s going, and runs right into a frame not much bigger than his own.

His thumb hits ‘send’ hard, and then his phone falls to the ground a third time. Yaku picks it up, tapping on the phone to look at the message. The eyes, unpleasant, dart up to his libero-in-training. Snapping the phone shut, he twirls it in his hands, regarding Yuuki’s tremble.

“I’m going to ask you one question, Shibayama. The extent of your punishment, and if you’re going to be punished, rests solely on your answer. A truthful answer, at that.” Yaku had always been kind to Yuuki. Sometimes a harsh teacher, but only to bring the best out of the first year libero, so he would be able to follow in his senpai’s footsteps. Yuuki knows what the question will be about, and nods solemnly, standing upright. 

“Did Lev put you up to this?” Yaku’s eyes burn through Yuuki, so intense it raises the urge to glance away. Yuuki decides against it, holding the gaze when he answers.

“No, he didn’t.” It’s the truth, after all. Lev might have made things worse and was the reason they all were on the run, but it hadn’t been his idea. Sou had been the bright one for once, inspired by his contact in Miyagi (which was their fancy code phrase meaning Hinata). Yuuki had enabled him by saying it would be fun, and they both had come up with the ideas of what to do and when to do it. They hadn’t thought anyone but their principal would have come to the scene of their minor surprise. Much less that two of their senpai would enter the office, get water and glitter splashed all over them, and have the entire fiasco recorded on film. It had sounded like a good idea a few days back. Before they saw Kuroo opening the door to their principal’s office with Taketora close behind, and Yaku just around the corner behind them.

After all, a bit of water shouldn’t have hurt anyone. And although none of their prank had hit Yaku, Lev had run right into him. Which is probably why their tallest regular had incurred the immense wrath of their libero.

“Tch, then who did?” Yaku still holds his phone, which buzzes a single time. Yaku had, in fact, had gotten none of the water and glitter surprise. He’d only been at the wrong place at the wrong time (like Kuroo and Yamamoto), and had been knocked over by Lev. Still playing around with the phone, he doesn’t notice the second buzz. Yuuki’s eyes are drawn to it, but his senpai doesn’t seem to be overly into buzzing phones. Another thing flashes in Yuuki’s peripheral vision, and he acts like he is hesitant to take a look. He scratches his chin, his eyes on the ground, letting them flicker over to where the flashing light waves at him. 

“Well, you see Yaku-senpai…” 

“Spit it out, Shibayama.” 

“The thing is-” 

A volleyball falls into their midst. Yaku’s eyes, used to chasing the ball, turn towards it as it whizzes past them. Head turned to one side, it creates an opening for Yuuki to run past him, to the flashing light behind his senpai. 

“Oi! Shibayama! Come back this instant.” 

The head start doesn’t do much for Yuuki, and he thinks he’s done for before he reaches his helper. Then another ball whizzes past him, connects with Yaku’s face, then stops him.

“Who the fuck is throwing all these balls!? If you’re club member and stealing them-”

“It isn’t stealing, Yaku-san! I borrowed them! And I will return them later.” Lev pops up, flashlight in hand, waving both hands above his head at Yuuki. “But if you’d put them back for me, that would be really awesome!” 

Lev takes Yuuki’s hand and they take a run, the taller one ducking when Yaku retaliates by spiking a ball at the back of his head. It misses, and while Lev laughs, they turn a corner into the empty school. Yaku’s outrage dies when they close the doors.

Catching his breath, Yuuki takes his time looking at Lev, although their limited time wouldn’t allow for it. Lev smiles, the same way he does when he faces strong opponents. 

“Have you seen-”

“Yeah, yeah! Inuoka-kun is right here. Let’s go!” Lev takes Yuuki’s hand again, and pulls him through the hallway, up a flight of stairs, and into enemy territory. 

*~*~*

They’ve been safe for five minutes. Lev thought it’d be foolproof to hide in a spot no one would come looking for them; a third year classroom. Sitting against the wall shielding them from the hallway, they hid themselves just below the translucent glass. Sou puts his legs beneath him, trying to hide as much of himself as he can. Yuuki did the same, although he didn’t have to do much to make himself smaller. 

Lev, who was sitting between Sou and Yuuki, had no fear, and his long legs were stretched out in front of him. “Haaah, that was fun! I was scared I’d hit Yaku-san, but I missed him! I’d be dead if one of those balls had hit his face.” 

“You shouldn’t have said all that stuff to him though! You’re going to be in trouble one way or another when this is over.” Yuuki looks over to him, seeing Sou trying to catch his breath. He had half a mind to ask his friend where he’d been hiding out, since the mail earlier only had said ‘club room’. But they had more important matters to take care of first. Sou read his mind, and turned his body to them.

“What do we do now? We can’t possibly just go home and leave things as they are.” 

“We should eat first! Refill our strength for what’s to come.” Bright-eyed, Lev pulls his backpack in front of him, and picks a bento out from among the supplies they had needed earlier. A happy ‘bon appetit’ comes from his lips before he piles food into his mouth. Yuuki and Sou can only look at him, in awe at how untroubled Lev is during this whole debacle. 

After some bites, and offering part of his food to his teammates, Lev continues. “There’s only one thing we can do, right? Erase the evidence. If they don’t have anything to hold against us, they cannot punish us.”

“But they _saw_! Kuroo-san might have had the bucket shielding his vision, but Taketora-senpai saw us quite clearly! And you bumped into Yaku-san when you ran away, too. How did you not see him!?” Yuuki panics again. If it had happened to him, he’d apologize a hundred times to earn Yaku’s forgiveness. “Although it had been you alone knocking our senpai to the ground…” 

Before Lev’s protest arises, Sou holds his hands up, twirling a rice ball in the air. “Our course of action should be clear. We go back, clean up, get the camera, and erase the video. All this while hiding from them.” As if it would be easy, Sou takes a bite from the rice ball. His eyes stared at the emptiness of the bento. 

“Impossible.” Lev chirps up, closing the lid of his bento when everyone had had his share. He flashes them both a bright smile, which helps to convince them that they could get out of this unscathed. “Let’s try it! We can’t sit here hiding away for much longer anyway. We can totally do this.” 

Sou nods. “One of us has to sacrifice himself and play bait, getting Kuroo-san and the rest. Lead them away from the crime scene.” Sou uses the space on Lev’s thighs to point out their positions and where best to go. “The other two clean up the mess and destroy the evidence. Our principal Daikawa is a neat person, we all know this. He has this little hoover, right? We’ll need it to clean up the glitter.” 

“I’m fine with this plan, but do we have to erase the video? I actually wanna see…” 

“Time is of the utmost importance. We cannot allow ourselves to be caught in the act of cleaning, after being caught in the act before. It’s too dangerous.” Yuuki shakes his head. He looks at Sou, and knows that the same thought is running through both of their minds. Sou is quicker in opening his mouth.

“I’ll act as bait. I’m faster than Yuuki, and smarter than Lev.” 

“Hey!” 

“No, I can’t let you do that, Sou-kun.” Yuuki swats his hand over Lev’s mouth, not letting him interrupt. “If I had been a better look out, we wouldn’t have been seen. Plus, it was my idea to be here on a Sunday evening. We should have done this on Monday morning… It’s my fault. And! It took two tall people to set it all up, right? We might need two tall people to bring it all down, too.” 

Yuuki’s smile wasn’t bitter about being the height he was. He was a proud libero, and Yaku had praised his agility and quick developing game sense. There was no shame in being too small for one job if he could excel elsewhere. 

“I have a feeling most senpai will cut me some slack and won’t be too harsh on me. If Yaku sees Lev, it would be most effective though…” Yuuki tries to figure out which route would be smart to take, while letting Sou take care of a sputtering Lev. Something the latter said earlier then strikes a question in him. “What did you mean, when you said we cannot hide ‘much longer anyway’?” Yuuki asks, his eyes on Lev who flashes him a happy smile. 

“Because this is Fukunaga-san’s classroom, and that’s his bag.” Lev points to a single bag hanging beneath the table. The Lucky Cat imprint unmistakably belongs to Fukunaga. In the moment it takes Sou and Yuuki to fall into yet another panic, the door to the right slides open, and the person they’ve been talking about enters. Fukunaga’s eyes find them easily, and he regards them in silence. 

It takes them all a second to consider the situation, then they all jump up and run. Sou is the first out of the room. Yuuki pushes him out and stays close behind. Lev’s long legs sprint in front of them both within seconds, laughing at being found. They’re in the hall, and as Yuuki looks back, he sees Fukunaga’s single-handed wave.

That’s just how unlucky their situation has become.

*~*~*

Everything was clean. Lev held the bucket, fish line cord, and the handheld camera they’d borrowed from Yuuki’s father. Waiting for Sou, Lev watched him, standing on a chair to in order to replace the little hoover on top of the bookcase in the position that they had found it. They hadn’t received a message from Yuuki, and assumed he was still safe. His fingertips tingled, the camcorder tight in his hands. He wonders if he could take out the SD-card and watch the video at home. There shouldn’t be much harm in it, and he’d return the memory card to Yuuki the next day.

“Yosh, all done. Let’s go.” Sou whispers, jumping off the chair and putting it back. They exit the office, closing the door behind them. 

“Ehm, Inuoka-kun?” Lev tries to hide his smile to create a blank face. Kai had told him many times to keep his face light and without emotion, a true gift needed for any middle blocker. It seems to work, as Sou didn’t show any sign of distrust. “I need to go the bathroom…”

Lev says it sheepishly enough, and Sou’s outburst of ‘Now!?’ doesn’t hold him back. They make out a meeting place, and Sou takes the route to the sports field. “Meet us at the baseball dugout, alright? We won’t leave without you, Lev!” 

The latter gives Sou a thumbs up, and steals away to the bathroom. He had given Sou all of their evidence, but had slipped the camera into his large trouser pocket. Sou didn’t suspect a thing, probably too high-strung from the chase they had today. The hallway is empty, and Lev walks into the first boy’s bathroom he can find. Grinning to himself, he doesn’t think about hiding in a stall, and opens the camcorder.

Hitting play, he bends over, silent as he watched the door open on the little screen. They had wanted to do a test run, when their senpai arrived, and had to hide away. Only to watch from another angle how the bucket of water fell on Kuroo’s head, and splashed Yamamoto, the latter getting the motherload of the glitter in his hair and his clothes. From where the first years had stood, they hadn’t seen all of it, except the explosion of glitter. The camera had gotten a much better view, from its own hiding place on top of a shelf. It captured Kuroo’s and Yamamoto’s surprised and angry faces in perfect light. 

Lev snorts, closing the camcorder. No need to keep the SD-card to himself. This was enough.

“I knew you’d be impatient.” 

Jumping and letting the camera slip (the cord was around his wrist, thank god), Lev turns to face the small presence in the bathroom’s doorway. He hadn’t heard it opening, nor had felt Kenma entering. Out of all the senpai, Kenma always had the appearance of being the least offensive (Fukunaga had too at first, but all that snickering had set Lev off, and he didn’t trust him anymore. Someone who laughs at themselves all the time cannot be up to anything good). Lev relaxes, putting the camera down. Kenma’s eyes follow the device, his eyes watchful of all sorts of technology.

“Is that it? The video of Kuroo being splashed with water?” 

Lev cheers up, nodding and walking over to Kenma. “Yes! Wanna see, it’s sooo hilarious! Look-” Lev stands next to Kenma, bowing forward and showing the video again. He doesn’t notice how he’s the only one watching. He _does_ notice when Kenma steps away. Lev also hears him say ‘I am not sorry’, which makes him look up at his teammate, who disappears from view.

“Fucking got you at last, you bastard!” Yamamoto jumps him, legs and arms. Lev tries to struggle, but the fight leaves him when their captain steps into view. Kuroo fistbumps their setter, and Lev can clearly makes out how Kenma declines a treat for dinner. 

“Thanks, Kenma.” Kuroo doesn’t smile, and Yamamoto jumps off Lev, bringing his head down in an one-armed lock hold. “Let’s bring him in. It’s time we talk.” Kuroo moves out, leaving it to Yamamoto to drag Lev along behind him. Struggle was futile; none of Lev height works in his advantage against the smaller, yet stronger wing spiker. 

“You’re fucking done for, Lev. We also got Sou and Yuuki hiding in the dugout. You three are in big -and by big I mean gigantic- trouble!”

*~*~*

Sou had always been the brave one. Lev was stupid in recklessness and fearlessness, and ungrounded baseless confidence. Yuuki only felt safe doing stuff like this if he knew someone had his back. Sou possessed real strength, which came from his heart. This became emphasised in the silence of their club room. The team’s regulars were all here. He bowed in front of his senpai, apologizing for all three of them.

“It’s my fault! And mine alone. Neither of them had thought about this before. It was just me.” 

Yuuki glances at their Kuroo, whose arms are locked across his chest, and his eyes were nothing more than slits. He doesn’t say anything, simply watching Inuoka, giving him time to explain.

“Well, and Shouyou. Sort of.” 

“Karasuno’s speedy #10?” Yaku pipes up, twirling a volleyball on top of his finger, as if ready to spike someone’s face in. 

“What has Shouyou to do with this?” Kenma asks, putting his game down. Out of all the senpai present, his eyes are the most staring, inquiring ones. 

Sou smiles, scratching his jaw. “You see, he told me about how he and Kageyama became friends. Teammates. He said how this single thing had been the base reason for everything. Becoming a set with Kageyama, becoming better at receives and stuff. I thought, if we first years would pull something like it, it’d make us better teammates, too!” 

The earnestness affected them all. Kai’s smile became warmer, and Kuroo finally uncrossed his arms, letting them fall limply to his side. Yaku put the ball between his feet, not so threatening anymore. Yamamoto came forward, his face blank. Not the ‘blank’ state where he pulls his head back and looks menacing; he was merely curious.

“What did they do, then?” 

Lev’s timing was horrible. He laughed behind his hand, trying to hide his face behind Yuuki. Yuuki kept mouse-still, trying to elongate his spine and let his tallest teammate play invisible behind him. Before anyone could get mad, Sou started explaining what Shouyou had told him. About how they’d been antagonistic toward each other, and how Kageyama had refused to toss to him. How during the principal’s visit to the Karasuno gymnasium, the poor man had gotten a ball against the side of the face, which smacked his toupe right off.

By this time, most of their upperclassmen were laughing. Not so Kuroo or Kenma. 

“And then! it l-landed on their captain’s head!” Lev sputters, holding himself barely together, a hand on Yuuki’s shoulder. Yuuki himself didn’t smile, not when Kuroo looked down on them. Sou continues talking over Lev’s laughs, trying to hide his grin as well as he can. They weren’t out of deep shit yet, and Yuuki wouldn’t stop holding his breath until they were.

“And so! Well, it sounded like a good plan when we made it. Pull a prank on the principal together, I mean. We couldn’t possibly have foreseen that Kuroo-san and Tora-san would walk into the office! Or that it would backfire on Yaku-san, too.” Sou is desperate, trying to cling to their innocence, when none was present. Yuuki feels for him, trying so hard under their captain’s unrelenting glare. “We meant no harm. Not against our own club, at least.” 

“Gah! You say that, but what if he’d found out it was the volleyball club!? We could all have been in trouble.” Yamamoto’s point silences Sou. 

“Indeed. I dislike agreeing with Yamamoto on principle. But he has a point.” Kuroo’s voice isn’t as overbearing as Yamamoto’s, but holds just as much power. He pulls his own phone out, eyeing the club’s walls as he does so, his eyes away from the first years awaiting their punishment. 

“Hey, it’s me. Yeah. Hey listen.” Kuroo talks on the phone, with whom, no one knows. “Say, your principal’s toupee, did it feel super sweaty and disgusting, having that thing on your head? Huh, Sawamura?” 

Half the room erupts in laughter, and Lev doesn’t care anymore. He lies down behind Yuuki, kicking his legs out in mirth. Sou flashes Yuuki a small smile, and even Yuuki can bring himself up to see some hope. 

“How I know isn’t the point here.” Kuroo turns away, smiling at Kenma, who just shakes his head and returns to his game. Tora is on the phone with someone else from Karasuno, verifying the happening of the event. On Kuroo’s line, Karasuno’s loud voice booms through his and also Tora’s phone. Both the captain and the ace hang up, laughing. Kuroo wipes his off quickly, returning his gaze to the two still upright sitting first years on the floor.

“And, did it work?”

Yuuki looks at Sou, who doesn't understand either. Then something lights up in those warm, faithful eyes. A smile, victorious and soothing, breaks wide on his face. Sou looks back at Kuroo.

“Well, we did evade half the team today, for as long as we could. We worked this out together, and are also ready to accept our punishment together.” Sou smiles, way too much for someone who’s about to get his ass kicked. Yuuki holds his breath, slapping Lev behind him. At last, Lev sits up straight, nodding as well, and repeating Sou’s words. 

“Anything you got. As long as we’re still allowed to play!” 

Kai gets up, brushing Kuroo’s shoulder. “We should cut them some slack, at least. Nothing but you and Yamamoto’s pride got hurt.” Ignoring Yaku, Kai looks at them. “They cleaned up after their own mess and accept the consequences. I don’t think you should be too harsh to them.” 

Kuroo regards the words of his vice, then looks at Yaku. “Lev knocked you over. Any demands?”

“Let me think of something before Monday night practice.” Yaku grins, hands on his knees. Kuroo nods, eyes turned to the other side, where Yamamoto sits.

“The camera belongs to Shibayama’s dad. And he also said the glitter was his idea. You’ve got most of it -still- on you.” Kuroo watches their loudest player. Yamamoto goes into deep thought, his head tilting to one side and the other. Not having the patience to deal with him, Kuroo waves him off. “Never mind. Shibayama is also Yaku’s responsibility, then. Plus, he didn’t try and get Lev into more trouble when he had the chance, so...” 

Yuuki glances at Yaku. It’s bad taste but, he feels safer knowing that the harsher treatment would be directed to Lev. And any libero training Yaku would come up with- well, Yuuki would take it gladly. He worries more about Sou right now, who's brave face awaits Kuroo’s words. A long silence goes by, and at last, Kuroo smiles at them, as well. 

“Just promise me to never follow that chibi-kun’s advice or footsteps, alright? I guess you’re all dismissed.” Kuroo rubs the back of his head, and tells them to leave. The first years don’t need any repeats of that, and fly out of the club room, shoulders less burdened than before. 

“Uwah! Why does it feel as if I have to go through hell again! Yaku-san will totally make me do endless receive practice again.”

At long last, Yuuki and Sou laugh, clap Lev on his back, and tell him it's all gonna be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> I think out of all of them, I like writing Lev and Kai the most~ I should consider writing them more often ;v;
> 
> I mean Tora is a given and I don't write him nearly as much as I would like to.


End file.
